//------------------------------// // Who said anything about sneaking in? // Story: The bird in the crow family // by InedibleBeef //------------------------------// Jay stepped out of the train station, the cool air of the city surrounding him, filling his nostrils. Every building stood an elegant castle design. All the ponies shared an elegance with the city’s exterior. “Man this place is fancy” Will said. “For some reason this reminds me of New York. You know, before it got bombed.” Jay smiled, he remembered old videos of New York when it was alive. “Wonder how the boys in New York are doing right now” “Probably freezing their asses off in the knee deep snowfall” Jay said. ~~ “Fuck man I’m freezing my ass off!” Gill said. “I know, the snow is like knee deep.” Huey said. “Then why the hell do we need to lie down while we stalk this ‘earth hive’?” Gill questioned. “Gill! Shut your dumb ass up!” Huey shouted trying to focus on what was through his scope. “I’m just sayin- “GILL! Look through your scope!” Huey shouted again. Damn, Gill was arguably the best shot in the entire camp, but he talked too much. Huey finally took a deep breath and focused on the hive. There were about five changelings, they looked like they were changing shifts. A couple of jokes and slaps on the back from each other and they swapped. The two that were previously on their shift proceeded through a cave opening, eventually disappearing into the dark. “Hey Huey check that out right there, top right.” Gill said. Huey moved himself up to Gills direction and adjusted his sights. There was a large cave opening that didn’t go very deep. A large changeling with longer hair stood before a pastel colored equine, much more colorful than the changelings. She had a pink coat and a cream, purple and pink mane. The changelings had her chained to the wall, and her coat was dirtied and ruffled, her eyes drooped. “Ponies...” Huey remembered. “Oh, SHIT!” “What?” Gill asked. “That’s one of the ponies the changeling was talking about… Take a picture of it!” Gill took out his camera skeptically, zoomed in and snapped a couple pictures of it. “She looks kinda important, wearing all that jewelry and shit” Gill commented. “I think I even see a unicorn horn and some wings on her too.” “Yeah, that changeling might know who she is. Send that photo to HQ and get that changeling on the radio.” “Alright” Gill got to work. Huey kept watching the scene unfold between the two equines the pony started crying while the changeling looked like was threatening her. Then something totally unexpected happened, the changeling flashed and she took the form of the pony. “WOAH! Gill get this on camera!” He exclaimed. Gil sprung back up and zoomed back in. “What the fuck…” The now pony version of the changeling Grabbed a picture off a table and held it up to the real alicorn. “Is that… a human?” Huey asked himself. He adjusted his scope for a better look, he definitely saw a human in the picture, two actually. The alicorn was in the picture herself, hugging another white coated pony with a blue mane. There was a large white alicorn with rainbow hair and a smaller, but fairly large dark blue alicorn. Six other smaller ponies surrounded them. “Take a picture of that.” Gill snapped more shots. The pony was sobbing now, the changeling laughed in her face. Huey felt sorry for her, he was no stranger to suffering, but he always hated when anybody cried for anything. The changeling threw the picture at the pony’s face, and left, morphing back into her true self. “Alright we’ve seen enough, get that to HQ” “Already done” Gill replied. “They should be calling up in 3…2…1” “What’s this you’re sending us?” A crackled voice came over the radio. “Called it!” Gill said. “It’s one of the ponies the changeling was talking about. Apparently the changelings can shape shift.” Huey explained. “We can see that, does it know where the missing unit is?” The voice came again. “Ask the changeling.” “We will, sit tight” About ten minutes passed, Huey kept watching the pony sob by herself, making him hate himself more and more for not doing anything. “Alright turns out that pony is Princess Cadence of the crystal kingdom. She does know the whereabouts of the missing unit. Also personal friends with them.” “So what now?” “We need to secure her. Nicely get the information out her and get back to her home.” “Sounds good, when do we get it done?” “Now, there’s a recon team already on their way.” “What? That’s a little fast.” Huey said, surprised. “We need that unit. Anyway, the team will be there in twenty. Sit tight some more.” ~~ Cadance tensed and shook as she wept in the empty cave. “Why is this happening to me?” She asked nobody. She was heard. The door swung open, a changeling guard entered, carrying a spear in its magical grasp. “Quiet in there” It hissed. Anger suddenly boiled in Cadence’s blood, but froze when its blood shot in a straight line out of its head, and it fell limp. “Target down” Three humans, dressed in full black and white rappelled into the opening and drew their weapons. “Clear” The human closest to Cadence rushed over and muffled her scream, “Relax! Were busting you out.” he whispered. “Are you Princess Cadence of the Equestrian crystal empire?” He asked her and removed his gloved hand from her mouth. “Yes” He took another weapon, what looked like the pistols they had, but smaller. He pressed it against the shackle on her hoof and pulled the trigger, sparks few and danced on the fool below. He did the same to the other shackles and they each eventually became free. “HQ we’ve successfully secured the package, proceeding to the LZ” The human, without warning wrapped a vest around her and clipped it on his own plate carrier. He stood up, picking Cadence up with him. “W-what are you doing?” “Just trust me, nobody here has ever tried to deploy a pony but we have dealt with K-9’s” “What’s a K-9?” Cadence asked confused. She didn’t get an answer because her savior was busy rappelling down a steep ledge. Cadence let out a short squeal and squirmed around in her vest, trying to spread her wings. “Hey you’ll be fine quit squirming.” The human assured. “Just uh… close your eyes.” Cadence did as told and fought her reflexes as they dropped ten feet at a time. “Watch it, you’ve got a patrol of six below you.” All three stopped and held their weapons ready. Cadence kept her eyes closed, preparing for the loud pops of gunfire. Only repetitive clicks rang out. “Clear” Cadence didn’t want to look. Eventually they landed and the human unclipped the vest from Cadence. “Lets go” “Huey, bag those bodies we cant leave them out in the open.” “On it” Huey said. Cadence took the risk and opened one eye, six changelings lay in a pool of thick green liquid. Her heart lurched, she could feel what little food she had been fed coming up from her stomach, she forced it back down and could feel tears coming. She let out a silent sob, noticed by Huey. He cautiously walked over and knelt by her side. “Hey, its okay, we’re going to get you home.” Cadence took a deep breath, “Its not that… well, it is that but… The changelings. I- my country hasn’t seen war for thousands of years.” Huey stepped back, thousands of years. “Well, uh” “Its fine, I’m just not used to it” Cadence said. Huey got another feeling of watching some be miserable with themselves. “Thanks, for being so understanding,” “Hey you two we gotta move.” One of the humans called out. Huey nodded and motioned for Cadence to follow him. “You’re clear, I’m moving out so you wont get sniper cover. Stay frosty.” A silence blanketed the group. “No pun intended” They all continued their run through the snow until they reached a clearing with a jeep identical to Will’s, and a large metal vehicle in a more rectangular shape, the back of the vehicle was folded open. Another human emerged from the opening and waved them in. “Move! Move!” They rushed inside, three other humans waited for them, one with an extremely long rifle. The door operator pushed everyone inside und shut the door. “Lets go!” He said banging on the wall. The vehicle rumbled and lurched forward. “Awesome op guys!” The long rifle wielding human said. “Nice joke Gill, we stayed pretty frosty in negative 12 degrees.” Another joked. “Speaking of negative 12 degrees, aren’t you cold?” Huey asked Cadence, all heads tuned to her. They all realized she did have a unicorn horn and wings, but said nothing. “Yes!” Cadence said desperately. “Oh… sorry.” “Its fine. Get her a blanket” Huey commanded. A short human got to it and pulled a thermal blanket from a survival pack and wrapped it around Cadence. “Thank you” She said. “All of you” Murmurs of “Yes” and “Your welcome” hummed through the closed space. “So, uh what happened, why were you captured?” Huey asked. “Oh” Cadence chuckled. “Long story” Everybody eased up and sat down to listen in. “Well, I was going to get married in a couple of days, and the changelings ponynapped me and started acting as me. Just a couple days after two humans landed in Equestria.” “So they did teleport to another world…” Gill said. “You know them?” Cadence asked. “Yes, Jay and Will. I know them.” Huey said. “Oh, small universe huh?” Cadence laughed. “Anyway, my fiancée is the captain of the royal guard, so they are going to brainwash him and bring down the Equestrian capital defenses and invade. Taking control of the whole country.” “Damn, I guess we need to hurry up and bust that changeling.” Gill said. “The queen changeling is acting as me, so if she is stopped, the whole invasion will be stopped.” Cadence informed them. “So all we need is permission from Barbossa, and we can stop the invasion.” One suggested. “No were going to need permission from the president if were going to another world. Plus he needs to talk to the leader of her country.” Huey motioned to Cadence. “Why would the president want to talk to a pony princess?” The rebel argued. “The eastern revolution is getting crushed, and were the only ones that can get access to Washington DC. Were going to need help where we can get it.” Huey said. Nods of agreement ensued. “Actually, we may not be very much help to you, the closest thing to the weapons you have is a crossbow.” Cadence said solemnly. The entire group sighed. “Well… do you have explosive bolts?” Huey asked. Cadence lit up, “Yes we do actually, we also have armor piercing, shrapnel, electric, stun, firebolt, icebolt, trackers and… and…” “Whoa, damn slow down girl.” Gill said, holding his hand up. “That’s some pretty serious stuff right there, how do you make all that?” “Well, simple! We use our magic!” Cadence chirped as she pointed to her horn. Her smile faded when she saw the skeptical looks from the humans. “Oh right, you don’t have magic.” “No… we don’t have uh, magic.” Gill said, laughing ensued among the rebels. “I’m assuming that your horn is how you use this ‘magic’” “Yes, we do.” Cadence charged her horn and gripped Gill’s rifle with her magical grasp and lifted it off the ground and into his lap. Everyone’s jaws hung in awe at what Cadence had done. She smiled at their reaction. “Whaaaa” Gill croaked. Cadence giggled. “I don’t believe this.” He said, defeated. “I’m going to have to apologize to that changeling I interrogated.” Huey said, smiling. Cadence lit her horn again and summoned dirt and a summer rose on the floor of the vehicle. “I am tripping” The door operator stared in amazement. Cadence lit her horn again to turn the rose into a small tree, but was stopped by Huey. “Ok, stop before you turn the BTR into a frog.” He said waving his hand. Cadence stopped and laughed again. “Yeah lets talk about something else,” Gill said. “Well since my kind attacked Jay and Will with questions, I guess its only fair if you can question me.” Now what to ask a pink alicorn? “You can fly?” someone asked. “Yes, I can. But, here might not be the best place to demonstrate” Cadence said, showing off her wings. “Yeah, were close to camp though. You can show us there.” The same rebel said back. “Is Jay and Will okay?” Huey asked her. Cadence smiled. “Yes they’re doing swell. They save a couple of ponies from a fire and they’re now training a group of the royal guard for combat on earth.” Cadence remembered the morning exercise and giggled a bit. “They never do get a break do they?” One rebel said, laughing. “So they are like prized heroes there?” Huey asked. “Yes, the ponies were grateful for what they did. But they didn’t accept them at first because they were warfighters, omnivores, six feet tall, things of that sort. But the pros ruled out the cons.” Cadence answered. “The ponies weren’t used to war either, the stories that were told from Jay’s memories set them on the edge.” “I wouldn’t be surprised, Jay was sent on three suicide missions and came back alive. Barbossa eventually decided it was impossible to kill him.” Gill said. Cadence gasped, “B-but isn’t suicide attacks a war crime?” “Well, I don’t know. But Jay is one of the few people they would send on a suicide mission. He’s a test subject for a drug that makes him think faster or something. So the fact that he came back from a suicide mission means the test was a success.” Huey explained. “Did you hear the story of his second suicide mission? He drove a truck full of explosives straight into an enemy vantage point, bailed out at the last second. Fractured his leg.” The door operator said. Cadence exhaled, to know that her friend was a living, breathing science project weighed her heart. “But it doesn’t hurt him does it?” She asked. “It affected him mentally in the early stages, sometimes he would came back from a mission and he couldn’t remember who people were and sometimes his own name. He got better after a while though.” Huey said, “But we decided that it makes him no less a person” He retorted, seeing her despair. Cadence sighed. “Its fine I just…” She was cut off by the BTR suddenly stop and the engine dying. “Were here,” The door operator said, punching a red button. The door hissed, and slowly began to lower. A blast of cold air chilled them all to the bone. Cadence’s blanket flapped temporarily in the small wind. The BTR had been neatly parked in a lot next to a small airfield. The entire terrain, save for the roads and the runways. Everyone quickly filed out of the vehicle and closed the door behind them. There was not a point of view that didn’t overlook rebels in their training exercises and jogging in formation. A large sign stood in front of the large hangars. New York National Guard 174th Attack wing Camp Firebird “Hey you guys! In the briefing room, Barbossa’s orders!” A nearby soldier shouted. ~~ Everyone was situated in one of the princess’s balcony rooms, they 8:00 and Jay felt a slight throbbing in his head, now it was 14:00 and his head was raging in pain. “Do you have any protein supplements?” He asked Celestia. “Umm, no. Why?” She asked back, not questioning what a protein supplement was. “Because when I said that I wouldn’t eat meat here I wasn’t thinking. I tried to go on a vegetarian diet once, and I got deprived of nutrients I needed. So right now I have a real bad headache and I only have so many protein bars myself.” He said clutching his head. Celestia felt a pang in her heart, she knew what this might mean. “Eat one of your protein bars now, I will decide more on that later.” “Here Jay” Will tossed him a ration bar. “Marine core protein ration, nutritionally, that can feed a family of three for a night” Jay looked at the wrapper, USMC survival ration type K. That was enough convincing for Jay to tear it open and take a decent bite out of it. “Irrelevant question,” Will said. “That forest on the edge of Ponyville, it looks like a good place for wilderness survival training for the special forces. And it’s only a BASE jump away from here.” He said. “Did you say… jump? Twilight asked suspiciously. “Into the everfree forest?” “Uh, yeah. A BASE jump.” Will repeated. “So, jumping from Canterlot into the everfree forest.” “Yup” “Now hold on a second!” Rainbow dash shouted. “For your information, trying to fly without wings isn’t a very good idea.” “We have parachutes” He countered bluntly. Rainbow paused, he just stared back at her. Celestia came to her rescue from his blank glare. “We don’t have much knowledge on parachutes, much of our early prototypes were unsuccessful and many have just given up the endeavor.” Will groaned, “Do you have hangliders?” “Actually, yes. We have very successful variants of hangliders.” She responded proudly. “Can we use them?” “Will stop, the ponies aren’t ready for that yet.” Jay said. “Y-yeah, and the everfree forest is full of big, scary monsters and dark shadows, and the weather controls itself! Its very dangerous in there.” Fluttershy squeaked. “Ah, it’s not too bad, Shy.” Applejack said. “Not too bad? Its dark and spooky and… and” “That’s enough. Will, you might be able to go to the everfree forest if you are careful.” Luna ended the conversation. Silence fell in the group. “So princesses, about the wedding plans.” Twilight said, retrieving her notepad. “I was wondering when the rehearsal is.” “Wedding?” Jay asked, snapping out of his trance. “Yes, Shining armor and Princess Cadence are getting married in just three days time!” Twilight said excitingly. “Wow, really? A soldier getting married?” Will asked. “Yes, he is getting married.” Twilight huffed. “And we would love to have you come!” Jay looked at the sisters, “Is this ok with you?” “Of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?” Luna answered. “Well, we are alien rebel fighters from another planet.” Jay said. “That means nothing to us at this point, you have both displayed good respect, friendship and bravery.” Luna countered him. “I…” Jay couldn’t argue with that. And Luna heard him, she smiled. “Oh alright you win.” He said. “Where is Cadence anyway? I haven’t seen her in a while.” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down. ~~ Cadence was escorted in the poorly lit room by Huey and Gill. It was devoid of any decoration whatsoever save for the Che Guevara poster on the wall. A lone table covered with an altitude map with blue and red flags sticking out of it. A tall, bulky man stood overlooking the map. He wore full woodland camouflage with a red beret on his head. His aged, darker skin was exposed from his rolled up sleeves. He looked up from the map, addressing the trio that stood before him. “I nevah thought I would see a real unicorn.” He said in a deep, African accent. “Barbossa, this is Princess Cadence of Equestria, she knows where the missing unit is.” Huey spoke. “Yes, let me introduce myself boy.” Barbossa said in a calm voice. “I am Captain Barbossa of the New York revolution. It is a pleasure to meet your royalty.” He gave a straight, military salute. Cadence was taken aback by his manners, “At ease, a pleasure to meet you as well.” He removed his gesture. “So about you friends.” “Ah yes! We must get to work on that. Now, you were held prisoner at this earth hive here.” He pointed to a red flag on his map. “Correct.” “And a portal is there to take us to your world.” He asked. “Also correct. But it will be challenging, the changelings already know we have attacked.” She said. “So?” Barbossa challenged. “I think we need to explain exactly what is going on with the changelings.” Gill said. “Gill’s right I do need to explain.” Cadence said. “Do tell” Barbossa said. Cadence took a deep breath. “I was taken prisoner because the changeling queen is working undercover as me and brainwashing my fiancée who is the captian of the royal guard.” Barbossa leaned in and squinted slightly. “Come our wedding, and she plans to destroy his shields around Canterlot and invade it. Canterlot by the way is the city that your friends are at right now.” She finished. Barbossa stood straight and exhaled, relaxing his muscles. “You are right, this will complicate things.” He said, staring back down at his map. “So sneaking in will be impossible, plus we don’t know where the portal is.” Huey said. Barbossa looked up and grinned, “Who said I was going to sneak in?”